Devizes café's French connection boosted by twinning association

Rebecca Wood, owner of the Mayenne cafe in Devizes, centre, with, Margaret Taylor and Jasper Selwyn, of Devizes Twinning Association, and the new plate showing Mayenne

Mayenne café, named after Devizes’ twin town in north west France, now has a picture of Mayenne inside.

To celebrate 50 years of twinning between the two places, the town’s twinning association presented café owner Rebecca Wood and chef Melanie Keeley with a porcelain plate and place mat featuring pictures of Mayenne.

It was the idea of twinning stalwart and Devizes resident Margaret Taylor, who is a customer of Mayenne.

She said: “Becca told me that customers often ask what is Mayenne and what is it like.

“The twinning association thought it would be an ideal opportunity to present them with something that showed a picture of Mayenne.”

Mrs Taylor and other members of the association bought the plate and placemant when they visited Mayenne in 2013.

The plate will be on display on the café’s wall and the place mat will be put on a plinth where a bottle of wine from Mayenne is kept.

Miss Wood said: “They are lovely items and we are grateful to the twinning association for presenting the gifts to us.”

The business partners opened Mayenne just over three years ago.

The café aims to replicate the feeling of a French bistro and Devizes’ link with Mayenne proved the ideal choice for a name.